The popular messaging app WhatsApp is rolling out new ways for parents to keep an eye on their kids. The platform just expanded its safety tools to cover teen accounts, adding fresh alerts for group chats and new limits on artificial intelligence features. This update builds on the accounts introduced earlier this year for younger children, giving parents more power to shape how older kids use the app safely.
Parents get alerts for group changes and can lock settings
Mothers and fathers can now get notifications about specific account activities. The app will send an alert whenever a teen joins or leaves a group chat. It also tells parents when a group the teen is in grows to a larger size, like 30 or 100 members.
Parents can also manage privacy settings using a special PIN. They can control who sees their teen’s profile picture and who is allowed to add them to new groups. The app also lets parents restrict who can see the teen’s status updates. Even with these new tools, the actual messages and phone calls stay completely private and hidden from the parents.
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The update brings a limited content mode for smart tools
The new controls also apply to the Meta chat tools built into the application. Parents now have a choice between the standard AI experience meant for anyone over 13, and a stricter limited content mode. This stricter option turns off certain features like private message summaries.
These tools are optional, meaning teens can still use the app without them if the family chooses. To set everything up, parents need both phones and must link the teen account to their own. The settings work across different devices, including those running iOS. The company says these changes aim to support open conversations about safe messaging while keeping personal chats protected.
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